A little while ago.
Southwest of Crossroad. Observation Tower.
"Thank goodness, we blocked the breath attack..."
Damien let out a sigh of relief.
He had watched the breath defense process with extreme tension, and fortunately, Crossroad had endured safely.
Damien had also continuously attempted long-range sniping to block the breath attack, but the distance was too great, and the power of the magic bullets couldn't reach effectively, making all sniping attempts futile.
'Anyway, it's a relief we blocked the breath attack. Now I can return and...'
As he thought about preparing for the final showdown, Damien flinched.
From beyond that distant darkness, Night Bringer's golden eyes were clearly 'looking' this way.
"...?!"
In the next moment, the eyes of darkness and Far-Sight clashed.
In an instant, the monster's and human's gazes intertwined. The eyes that saw the darkness and the eyes that saw the truth collided, sparking at the ends of their sight.
"So it was you who had been watching me all this time."
A voice that shouldn't be heard at this distance.
The intent of the black dragon's will reverberated and struck Damien's mind.
"Now it's time to pay the price."
"...!"
When Damien came to his senses, the tangled view had already been released.
"Something is..."
"It's flying towards us!"
The observers screamed as they discovered something rapidly approaching from the darkness.
Damien could clearly see what it was.
"...It's Night Bringer's auxiliary heads."
Swish-!
Six heads.
All of Night Bringer's auxiliary heads were shooting towards the observation tower at a terrifying speed.
While the black dragon itself began advancing north again, it had sent only the auxiliary heads to attack this place.
It was obvious that these heads were targeting the humans in the observation tower. Damien shouted to the soldiers inside the tower.
"Everyone, retreat! To the teleport gate, now-!"
The observation squad's soldiers began scrambling down the tower.
But the teleport gate was on the first floor, and they were at the top of the tower.
It would take a few minutes for everyone to get down the stairs. Meanwhile, Night Bringer's six auxiliary heads were rocketing towards them.
'At this rate...!'
The heads of the monster were flying like arrows, and the humans were desperately but slowly descending.
Estimating the speed, Damien grit his teeth. At this rate, they would be caught and killed before everyone could escape.
'In that case!'
Damien picked up the magic gun he had placed on the floor.
In that case - they had no choice but to fight!
Click!
The first shot was [Black Queen].
The strongest magic gun on earth, the purified Nightmare Slayer!
Bang-!
After extremely quick aiming, the muzzle burst into flames.
The magic bullet flew with pinpoint accuracy, hitting the center of the foremost head.
Splash...!
The leading head, hit between the eyebrows by the magic bullet, sprayed blood in all directions.
However-
Growl!
The leading head grinned with its huge mouth, blood pouring from the hole in its forehead, still flying this way at the same speed.
'Not enough?!'
Damien ground his teeth, donned his thermal armor, and readied the Black Queen again.
"Then - how about this!"
Click, click, click-!
The gun barrel transformed into a long rail, sparking with magical currents.
Simultaneously, all the bullets from the magazine spun in the air, merged into one, and were fixed onto the rail.
The Nightmare Slayer Black Queen was ready to unleash its ultimate attack. Damien's large brown eyes flashed as he pulled the trigger.
Bang!
Lightning struck.
The recoil from the shot was so powerful it made the observation tower sway. The brilliant white magic bullet tore through the darkened sky like a beam of light.
The gigantic magic bullet, shooting like a bolt of lightning, twisted deftly in the air, piercing through the leading head of those flying towards the observation tower-
And impaling the remaining five heads trailing behind.
Splatter! Splash...!
A few seconds after the magic bullet penetrated, blood spurted from the gaping wounds of all six heads.
"Raaagh-!"
All six heads opened their mouths wide, vomiting blood and pain.
But - they didn't fall.
With no more lives to lose and no cores to destroy, the six heads continued their charge. They were now right in front of them.
'But the damage is done!'
The [Black Queen] emitted thick steam from the barrel as Damien discarded the burnt thermal armor.
He drew the next magic gun.
'Finish them off one by one!'
At the short barrel's end was a decoration made from a part of the jawbone extracted from Tustivian, the black dragon's fang.
A new weapon crafted by combining an SSR-grade magic core with materials taken from the black dragon legion.
A magic gun specialized for close combat, scattering bullets in a shotgun style -
Named, [Guillotine]!
Crash-!
All six heads pushed into the top floor of the observation tower simultaneously.
The outer wall shattered as the enormous heads of the evil dragon opened wide, snapping to tear and swallow their prey.
And Damien, waiting, pulled the trigger.
Bang-!
A resounding gunshot accompanied by a burst of flame.
With only two rounds in its chamber, the shotgun [Guillotine] demonstrated absolute power in such close quarters.
The foremost head that broke through the wall was shredded to pieces.
'These heads have some sort of magic connection at the back of the brain! Night Bringer controls them with this magic...'
Using Far-Sight, Damien confirmed that the auxiliary heads' brain areas were connected to the black dragon's main body by transparent threads of magic power, and he aimed his shotgun at these connection points, his judgment precise.
The leading head, with its magic connection shattered, rolled grotesquely on the floor.
At this moment, the leading auxiliary head was undoubtedly 'dead' -
Damien went into stealth mode.
"...?!"
The enemy shooter was definitely here.
But suddenly disappeared from sight. The remaining five auxiliary heads, now inside the observation tower, were confused.
'It worked!'
Damien held his breath among the heads and looked down at the equipment he was wearing.
[Covert Dawn].
Damien was still wearing this thin armor set given to him by Ash a long time ago.
A magic armor that made him invisible each time he killed an enemy. There was a limitation of activation only once every ten minutes, but this one instance of stealth was enough.
"?!"
"Urgh...?"
"Gurr..."
The five auxiliary heads looked around bewilderedly.
If it were the main body of the black dragon, this level of stealth would be detected immediately, revealing Damien's position.
But these were dead heads sent here.
Inferior in every way compared to the main body, they were just auxiliary units following the main body's orders.
For a moment, the heads couldn't detect Damien's stealth, and in this short gap, Damien prepared thoroughly.
His ultimate skill - [Duel]!
'I'll unleash everything in this one moment!'
Whoosh...!
Damien floated all his magic guns in the air.
[Cerberus].
[Woodpecker].
[Hunter's Retribution].
[Venom Fang].
[Guillotine].
And reloading [Black Queen] with a [Magic Bullet of Annihilation] created with his magic power, once again!
Grabbing the handles of the floating magic guns in order as they dropped to eye level, Damien pulled the triggers.
Bang bang bang bang bang-!
Handguns, submachine guns, rifles, shotguns, he pulled the triggers of everything in his hands, firing in all directions like a dance.
In an instant, Damien's magic bullets rained down like a downpour.
The five auxiliary heads of the black dragon were struck by this torrent of magic bullets. The bullets persistently targeted the brains of the monsters, aiming specifically at the points where the controlling magic was connected.
The black dragon's auxiliary heads, pierced, skewered, and torn to shreds, fell one by one with their tongues hanging out.
Bang...!
After the last gunshot echoed long.
"Hah, hah, hah!"
Damien, on one knee, panted heavily.
The top floor of the observation tower, battered by the head's assaults and the barrage of bullets fired from within, was in shambles. It was on the verge of collapse.
No more moving monsters remained on this grotesquely destroyed upper floor.
Damien grasped his trembling arm, suddenly drained of magic power. He wiped away the cold sweat that drenched his forehead.
"Ugh..."
Blood-tears flowed from beneath his bloodshot eyes due to intense concentration. His vision blurred repeatedly, fading in and out.
'Still, I finished off all the black dragon's auxiliary heads... This gives us an advantage in the upcoming showdown...'
Though unintended, he had lured the auxiliary heads and eliminated them individually.
If the black dragon's main body wanted, it could retrieve and resurrect these heads, but it would be a troublesome effort regardless.
After finally steadying his breath, Damien slowly stood up. He counted the black dragon's auxiliary heads lying around him.
'One, two, three, four, five...'
And the last one...
Damien noticed a hole in the floor.
The last head, hit by the magic bullet, had crashed violently into the floor, leaving a trace of its fall to the lower level.
As Damien staggered to look down, he instinctively felt something and rolled back.
Crash-!
Immediately, the last head burst up through the floor, snapping its jaws fiercely. The shattered floor fragments scattered in all directions.
'What?! No way, I definitely took it down-'
As Damien slowly fell back, he saw the back of the last head.
The part of the brain he had sniped was intact, and the magical thread was still there.
'Could it be that the power was insufficient...!'
He had poured all his magic and bullets to bring down the heads, but one of the guns with lower power must have been mixed in.
Damien had tried to distribute the bullets accurately to take them all down without overkill, but there was a limit.
This last head had been hit repeatedly by [Woodpecker] and [Cerberus] magic bullets, temporarily suppressed but not fatally damaged.
And now, it began its counterattack against the sniper who had run out of ammunition.
Crash! Crack! Crash-crack!
The last head, back on the top floor of the tower, snapped its jaws ferociously to devour Damien.
"Grrk?!"
He crawled backward, but eventually got cornered. Damien gritted his teeth, preparing for death.
The jaws of the last head snapped together, biting into the top floor's floor just as -
Boom-!
The impact caused the tower to start collapsing.
The crumbling floor gave way, and Damien narrowly avoided the monster's jaws as he fell below.
Boom! Boom! Boom-boom-boom...!
Following the top floor, the entire tower began to collapse from top to bottom.
'To survive... I have to jump!'
Amidst the falling building, Damien opened his eyes wide to track the falling debris and pushed off the wall with his foot.
Leap-!
Falling through the collapsing tower, Damien narrowly avoided the large debris falling from all sides.
The last head, closely pursuing Damien, shattered every pillar, floor, and stone in its path.
Despite this, the gap wasn't closing, so the last head opened its enormous jaws wide. Black magic power gathered between the open jaws.
"...!"
Terrified, Damien urgently stretched out his left arm. A small grappling hook shot from his left arm to catch the opposite wall.
Snap!
It was an auxiliary device, a grappling hook launcher he had used a long time ago.
As a sniper, securing shooting angles was important, so he had equipped one for moving positions... and it saved his life.
Whirr!
Following the line connected to the grappling hook, Damien's body sharply changed trajectory.
"Grrr!"
Though he was battered by falling wood fragments and glass shards, he managed to dodge to the opposite side.
And where Damien had originally been falling, the last head spewed black magical flames.
Whoosh-
Boom!
The observation tower, barely maintaining its shape, exploded.
Damien shielded his head with both arms as he dodged to the side. By sheer luck, there was a window.
Crash-!
Thrown out of the tower through the shattered glass, Damien shot the grappling hook back towards the tower with his left arm.
Snap! Whirr!
The hook caught on a stone wall, which cracked deeply. But Damien didn't care.
The ground was already near. If he could just slow his fall, it would be enough.
Damien's body, flying back towards the tower, crashed into the first-floor wall.
Thud-!
"Argh...!"
He tried to offset the impact with his barely raised magic power, but the shock was tremendous.
Even though the tower wasn't that high, he had fallen from the top, and to slow his fall, he had hooked himself and crashed into the wall.
His left arm, attached to the grappling hook launcher, was torn and shredded, and he couldn't move his shoulder, possibly dislocated.
'Still, I'm alive...'
Gritting his teeth, Damien struggled to his feet.
'Now, to the teleport gate...!'
And then.
Boom-!
The last head that emerged from the collapsed tower smashed the teleport gate installed at the tower's entrance.
Seeing the fragments of the magic stones flying everywhere, Damien's face went blank. The last head grinned wickedly at the sight of Damien.
"Ah..."
Damien's legs gave out, and he slumped to the ground.
The pain he hadn't realized before now surged through his entire body.
'It's over...'
He realized that everything was truly over.
Sensing its prey's despair, the last head leisurely crossed the air and slowly approached.
Damien watched quietly as his end came closer.
Thud.
At that moment.
Something touched the tips of his weakened right hand.
Looking down blankly, it was the handgun-style magic gun Cerberus. One of the three barrels was half-broken, rolling on the floor beside him.
"…"
With a trembling hand, Damien grasped the gun.
With the last remaining thread of his magic power, he loaded a magic bullet, then placed the muzzle under his chin.
Better to end it cleanly himself than be mocked and killed by the monster.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Was it because his heart was pounding too hard?
It felt like the ground beneath him was shaking violently.
Damien swallowed a dry gulp that tasted of blood.
"…"
He just had to pull the trigger and find peace.
But... the courage...
"Grrk..."
The courage to take his own life didn't come easily.
Tears welled up in Damien's large brown eyes.
Boom, rumble...!
The sound of the world shaking and collapsing echoed.
The gaping mouth of the last head approached right in front of him. Its moist, unpleasant warmth enveloped Damien's blood-soaked body.
Damien closed his eyes. He grit his teeth.
And, mustering the last bit of courage he had, he tightened his finger on the trigger.